Isaias Afwerki

Early life and education

Isaias Afwerki was born on 2 February 1946 in the Aba Shi'Aul district of Asmara, Eritrea (then under British administration). His father, whose native village was Tselot, just outside of Asmara, was a minor functionary in the state tobacco monopoly; his mother was a housewife.

Isaias spent most of his youth in Asmara. He attended Prince Makonnen High School (now called Asmara Secondary School) where he engaged in discussions about nationalist Eritrean politics. In 1965, he began his studies at the College of Engineering at Haile Selassie I University (now called Addis Ababa University) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, but due to lower scores in his first-year first semester he was supposed to retake the first semester which he didn't. However, he maintained his interest in Eritrean politics and informed his friends that he was planning to join the Eritrean rebels in the field.

Eritrean War of Independence

In September 1966, Isaias, along with Haile Woldense and Mussie Tesfamichael, traveled to Kassala, Sudan, via Asmara to join the Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF). Isaias and his comrades had assumed the ELF was an inclusive revolutionary organization, but they soon realized that the movement was sectarian and generally hostile to Christians. Isaias, Haile, and Mussie decided to organize subversively, forming a secret clandestine cell. To seal their pact, the three men signed an oath with their own blood, carving an 'E' on their right arms, symbolizing their determination to die for Eritrea. In 1967, the Chinese government took in five ELF recruits for political commissar training, including Isaias. There, he studied Maoism as well as the strategy and tactics of guerrilla warfare. On his return trip, he was arrested by Saudi Arabian authorities while attempting to cross the Red Sea on a dhow. He was released nearly six months later.

Upon his return in 1968, Isaias was appointed as a political commissioner of the ELF's Zone 5 in the Dekibarek region. He and other ELF members began to criticize the sectarian tendencies of the ELF. In 1969, further power struggles among the ELF leadership and the assassination of several Christian members led to the defection of the ELF's Zone 5, which included Isaias. This group of around seventy fighters, led by Abraham Tewolde, withdrew to an isolated locality, Ala, in the northeast of the Akele Guzay near Dekemhare, where they were joined by another small contingent of Kebessa fighters under Mesfin Hagos, together they became known as the Ala group. Following Tewolde's death in late 1970, Isaias became the leader of the group.

In August 1971, this group of Christian defectors held a meeting at Tekli (northern Red Sea) and founded the Selfi Natsinet (“Independence Party“). They elected a leadership consisting of Isaias, Mesfin Hagos, Tewolde Eyob, Solomon Woldemariam, and Asmerom Gerezgiher. They then issued a highly polemical document written by Isaias called, Nihnan Elamanan (“We and Our Goals”), in which they explained the rationale for their decision to create a separate political organization instead of working within the ELF. The document accused the ELF of discriminating against Christian highlanders and killing reformist Christian ELF members. The document instead stressed the unity of the Eritrean nation and called for a "revolutionary organization with a revolutionary line". In August 1971, Selfi Natsinet joined the Popular Liberation Forces (PLF), forming a loose alliance with two other splinter groups; these three groups were jointly represented by Osman Saleh Sabbe.

Presidency (1993–present)

Independence of Eritrea

In April 1993, a United Nations-supervised referendum on independence was held, and the following month Eritrea achieved de jure independence. Isaias was elected as the president of the State of Eritrea by the National Assembly and declared the first head of state, a position he has held ever since the end of the war for independence.

On 16 February 1994, the EPLF held its third congress, renamed itself the People's Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ) as part of its transition to a political party, and Isaias was elected secretary-general by an overwhelming majority of votes. Isaias undertook a series of economic reforms. In May 1994, he implemented a national service program in which individuals would serve for 18 months. Military training was the focus for the first six months, followed by awareness of the country and expansion of its agricultural sector.

Domestic policy

In his first few years Isaias was hailed as a new type of African president with then-US President Bill Clinton referring to him as a "renaissance African leader". However, in 1997, a new constitution was drawn up but never enacted, and elections were cancelled. In an April 2000 speech at Princeton University, Isaias said that "constitutionality, political pluralism and free and fair elections are naturally the best institutional tools" for achieving economic prosperity given the political and cultural realities of a specific country. However, a parliamentary election scheduled in 2001 was later postponed indefinitely. Although police are responsible for upholding internal security and the armed forces' external security, eyewitness reports exist of the armed forces engaging with demobilizing soldiers or civilian militias to complete the hybrid tasks of both. Civil authorities sometimes involve themselves with security forces in an abuse of power. In 2014, Isaias declared the 1997 constitution to be "dead" and announced plans for a new constitution. However, as of 2026, no new constitution has been proposed.

In 2018, Isaias' former comrade, Andebrhan Welde Giorgis, said that Isaias went on to personalise power, and "having personalised power, he abused it to the maximum". Notwithstanding, during the African Unity summit in Cairo in 1993, Isaias had criticized other leaders for staying in power for too long, and he had also rejected a cult of personality.

In 2001, 15 ministers, later dubbed the G-15, wrote an open letter calling for reform. On 18 September 2001, Afwerki closed all independent national press, and prominent opposition leaders were arrested. 11 of the G-15 were arrested and, as of 2026, have not been released. In 2010, when asked when elections would be held, he responded, "Let's wait 3 or 4 decades".

In 2009, Isaias advocated for the development of indigenous political and economic institutions and a strategy that suited Eritrea's internal conditions and available resources. The key elements were to include ambitious infrastructure development campaigns in terms of power, transport, and telecommunications, as well as with basic healthcare and educational facilities.

According to the World Bank, Eritrea's recent growth has been associated with the agricultural (one-third of the economy and 20 percent of gross domestic product (GDP)) and mining sectors (20 percent). Real GDP grew by 12 percent in 2018 but fell 2.7 percent from 2015 to 2018. Deflation existed from 2016 to 2018 due to a currency change and continued in 2018 after economic and trade ties with Ethiopia were reestablished.On 18 May 2012, Isaias said in a VOA interview that the country's development over two decades of independence was "a success story". As a result of regional insecurity in 1998, Eritrea has a strong fiscal policy caused by a sharp drop in capital spending and reductions in revenue. Fiscal pressures, however, are likely to increase.

Foreign relations

During the Ethiopian Civil War, the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) was initially inspired by the Eritreans and received assistance for their independence. By the 1980s and 1990s, the TPLF emerged as a powerful rebel group that increased its military skills in the revolutionary struggle. The groups disagreed and broke up in 1985.

Eritrea has engaged in border conflicts since its independence, most notably a war between 1998 and 2000. The war began after Eritrea invaded Ethiopia over the disputed border of Badme on 6 May 1998, and resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths within two years. On 12 December 2000, Eritrea signed the Algiers Agreement to end the war; however, the countries remained in a "no-war-no-peace" stalemate. Eritrea has security concerns about Ethiopia, particularly its support of weak, splintered Eritrean opposition groups. Isaias uses the disputed border to maintain a war footing and justify indefinite mass mobilization and repression. Eritrea supported Ethiopian rebel groups such as the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) and the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) to undermine regional Ethiopian influence. In Somalia, Eritrea has trained, armed, and financed militias opposed to the Ethiopian government during its transitional government. The UN Monitoring Group on Somalia recommended an embargo against Eritrea, Ethiopia and other states.

In late 2008, the relationship between the countries was deemed strained; the Ethiopian Border Commission (EEBC) did not outline the border in November 2007. The United Nations Missions in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) ended in 2008, and Eritrean troops briefly occupied the Temporary Security Zone. Ethiopia remained in control of the EEBC's border inside Eritrea and reached Badme, triggering mass mobilization and high troop concentrations in the area. Eritrea's unchanged stance reinforced the EEBC's decision, which was backed by international law; Ethiopia remained in de facto compliance and had strong relations with the UN.In 2018, Isaias oversaw an unexpected transformation of Eritrea's relations with Ethiopia. The 20-year stalemate ended after Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed came to power in 2018. Abiy signed a "joint declaration of peace and friendship" at a bilateral summit on 9 July, restoring diplomatic and trade ties with Eritrea. The agreement includes reopening Burre to access the landlocked Ethiopian Port of Eritrea and Zalambessa for trade, and access to Ethio telecom and Ethiopian Airlines. On 16 September, Abiy signed another peace treaty with Isaias in Jeddah. Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir tweeted that the agreement "will contribute to strengthening security and stability in the region at large". This was widely acknowledged by numerous world leaders, with the UAE government awarding Isaias the Order of Zayed (First Class) in recognition of his efforts to end the conflict.

Forto incident

About 100 soldiers broke into Forto, the building housing the information-ministry correspondent for state television Eri-TV, on 21 January 2013 and surrounded the staff. They forced station director Asmelash Abraha to read a demand to release all prisoners of conscience and political prisoners and to implement the 1997 constitution. After he read two sentences, the station went off the air. Isaias' bodyguards were urged to protect him, his palace, and his airport. Eri-TV returned to the air at 10 a.m. to report a snowstorm in Paris. The mutiny subsided after the government negotiated the release of the ministry's employees.

Personal life

In the summer of 1981, Isaias met his wife, former EPLF fighter Saba Haile, in a village called Nakfa. As of 2010, they had three children.

Shortly before Eritrea declared independence, Isaias contracted cerebral malaria and was flown to Israel for treatment. Arriving in a coma, he was treated at Sheba Medical Center in Tel Aviv, Israel, where he recovered after successful treatment. As of 2019, he was a member of the Eritrean Orthodox Church, one of the four legal churches in Eritrea.

His nickname "Isu" was frequently used in conversation to refer to Isaias in his political capacity and has appeared in news articles as well.

His training in China made him a great admirer of Mao Zedong, but he reportedly hates Deng Xiaoping.

Temperament

In a 2008 leaked assessment, United States ambassador Ronald McMullen described Isaias as "paranoid" and believing that "Ethiopian PM Meles Zenawi tried to kill him and that the United States will attempt to assassinate him."

Foreign honours

Saudi Arabia

Order of King Abdulaziz (16 September 2018)

Serbia

Order of the Republic of Serbia, Second Class (2016)

United Arab Emirates

Order of Zayed, First Class (24 July 2018)